Staggered Boiling Pipe Layout for Uniform Immersion Cooling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional nucleate boiling plates experience non-uniform heat dissipation leading to local hot spots and bubble merging, which reduces boiling heat transfer efficiency and can cause burnout.
Innovation Solution
A nucleate boiling apparatus with a staggered arrangement of pipes, featuring two sets of pipes extending from opposite sides of a base, with one set positioned higher than the other, enhancing nucleate boiling through features like dimples and a fanned-out configuration to minimize bubble interference and increase boiling efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a conventional nucleate boiling plate is used, then heat dissipation occurs, but non-uniform distribution causes local hot spots and bubble merging that reduce heat transfer efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The boiling plate surface is segmented into multiple discrete nucleation sites (dimples, particles, or cavities) distributed across the surface. Each nucleation site acts as an independent bubble generation point, ensuring uniform bubble distribution and preventing localized hot spots while maintaining high heat dissipation efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The surface is equipped with locally concentrated nucleation features (such as dimples of specific depth, particles of certain size, or cavities at particular densities) rather than a uniform surface. These localized structures create controlled bubble formation zones that enhance heat transfer uniformity across the entire plate surface.
2Reliability
If an enhanced nucleate boiling plate with surface treatment is used, then bubble generation becomes more uniform, but large distorted vapor bubbles still form at the center affecting overall heat dissipation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from a two-dimensional surface treatment approach to a three-dimensional structured surface with dimples of varying depths, layered particles, or multi-level cavities. This vertical dimensionality creates staggered nucleation zones that prevent large distorted bubbles from dominating the center region, as bubbles form at different heights and break free at different times, maintaining continuous heat transfer across the entire surface.
3Strength
If high thermal conductivity material is used for the boiling plate, then heat distribution improves, but bubble merging still occurs reducing boiling heat transfer
Solution Approach 1:
Nucleation sites are pre-formed on the boiling plate surface before operation begins. These pre-existing dimples, particles, or cavities serve as predetermined bubble birthplaces that actively generate vapor bubbles as soon as the liquid reaches boiling temperature. This preliminary preparation ensures bubbles form uniformly across the surface from the start, preventing bubble merging even in high thermal conductivity materials where heat distributes rapidly.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus significantly improves heat transfer by up to 80% and reduces thermal resistance by 56%, ensuring uniform heat dissipation and preventing bubble interference.
Implementation Method 1
A nucleate boiling apparatus includes a base configured to fit onto a heat-producing object to provide immersion cooling to the object in a liquid-cooled computing environment
Implementation Method 2
Two-phase boiling heat transfer is a state-of-art thermal solution for dense power components within computing systems. The latent heat of phase change easily dissipates huge amounts of heat
Implementation Method 3
The base is configured to fit onto a heat-producing object to provide immersion cooling
Implementation Method 4
The first plurality of pipes connects to the second plurality of pipes through the base such that each pipe of the first plurality of pipes connects with a corresponding pipe of the second plurality of pipes to constitute a single pipe
Data Source
AI summary
A nucleate boiling apparatus is disclosed that includes a base configured to fit onto a heat-producing object to provide immersion cooling to the object in a liquid-cooled computing environment. The apparatus further includes first and second pluralities of pipes extending from opposite sides of the base. Each of the first and second pluralities of pipes including a respective transition region and a respective flat region. The first and second pluralities of pipes in the transition regions extend away and up from the base, and the first and second pluralities of pipes in the flat regions extend away from the base in a fanned-out arrangement. The flat region of the second plurality of pipes is at a greater distance from the base than the flat region of the first plurality of pipes.